The present invention relates generally to exchanging data between different processing systems and more specifically to exchanging data associated with and embeddable within electronic documents across an exchange information (XI) processing system.
In current processing systems using an XI system, the XI system provides a central repository of information as well as for the translation and exchange of information across different and typically incompatible software platforms. The XI system centrally stores information usable by various parties accessing the system. The XI system also allows the exchanging of information between these platforms that were previously unable to exchange data based on a formatting and translation concerns. The XI system use an intermediate translation technique to convert documents and data resident therein between different formats.
In one approach, incoming documents are translated from a first encoding into an extensible mark-up language (XML) encoding. The XML encoding uses standardized or open formatting, which allows most platform-specific encodings to be readily translated and usable by different platforms. In the existing systems, a copy of the translated document and the data contained therein is saved on the processing systems that access the XI system.
To share the document, the XI system translates a document and data to be associated therein from an intermediate language to a second language readable by the second processing device. The data may also be stored in the XI system, as it acts as a central repository, therefore the data is written to a storage location associated with the XI system. The translated document and data may then be transmitted to the second processing system by the XI system.
In a typical application, the document and subsequent data is exchanged to pass information back and forth between these systems. A common example may be a purchase order application that submits a purchase order document from the first system to the second system. The purchase order document includes data fields having information supplied by a user using the first system. The document may also contain blank fields for a user using the second system to supply further information. For example, the first user may enter information relating to ordering different products from the second user, but the first user may not know specific information, such as specific cataloging or referencing information or delivery terms. Therefore, the first user enters as much information as possible in the first user's system. The partially completed document is then sent to the XI system, where the information is translated and stored. The partially completed document is also sent to the second user where the second user can enter the missing information to complete and acknowledge the purchase order.
Once input information is supplied by the user using the second system, the document is locally saved on the second system. The document and the associated data is then transmitted to the XI system where it is again translated, this time from the second encoded language to the language readable by the XI system. The XI system saves the new document in its storage location. And finally, the document is translated back into a language usable by the first system and the document and the associated data is the transmitted back to the first system.
This process requires significant translation of the document between these different systems. This process also requires duplicative storage of these documents in many locations. In the above example, the document and associated data is stored on the first system, the second system and the XI system. Using the XI system further requires extensive data transmission between different systems with the various translated documents.
Furthermore, the full data set is converted each time, including any information that may not be utilized in subsequent steps. The existing approach is extremely inefficient because the full translation includes data elements that are not required. Furthermore, this system create superfluous data files as the data is maintained in many different locations.